United States

United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) The mission of the US Environmental 

Protection Agency (EPA) is to protect the environment and human health. It has taken several regulatory steps to protect the environment from hazardous pollutants. Lowest achieved emission rate (LAER) and South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) are the EPA s major environmental and health protection initiatives. The agency mainly focuses on  

Lowest achievable emission rate (LAER) The LAER is one of the EPA decisions that confirms the environmental benefits of the UV/EB materials. The EPA lists the UV/EB products under the LAER for several industrial processes including coating and printing. The LAER designation signifies that the UV/EB has achieved the recognition as most viable method for lowest emission levels. 

Food contact There are a number of regulations for food-contact articles. They include regulations Directive Sg/iog/EC 

Chemical production in the United States, Europe, and China. Note Estimates for 1970-2000 

Most modem chemical control regulations reflect the fundamental premise that some chemical releases to the environment are inevitable, and that the use of chemicals should be controlled so that those releases present an acceptable level of risk. That simple premise leads to challenging technical and ethical questions. What is acceptable risk How does one calculate that risk How does a society choose to balance the possible risks against the apparent benefits of using a chemical How is the potential risk from a single new chemical put into the context of exposure to multiple chemicals  

This chapter explores those queshons, beginning with a discussion of one of the oldest chemical control laws, the US Toxic Substances Control Act. Readers should note that the discussions of laws and regulations that follow are intended simply to illuminate the question of why chemicals can be found throughout our environment and should not be construed as legal or regulatory advice. 

The history of the petroleum industry in North America, in general, and the United States, in particular, can be considered to date back to the year 1846 when a Canadian archeologist, A. Hesner, developed a petroleum distillation process for petroleum rich porous minerals. Kerosene was the main product in this process. Fortunately, kerosene was the main fuel for lighting and was considered to be better than light oil. As a result, this simple type of distillation process was widely used. About thirty-four companies were already using the process by the end of the 1850s. By this time also, the USA was already producing kerosene at the rate of 8 million barrels per year. 

In 1859, the former railway conductor E. Drake drilled the first oil well for petroleum extraction. This was the first known oil well in the world that used mechanical drilling. The method was so simple and effective that, shortly after it was introduced, it was employed by many companies. The major reason was that it could extract a large amount of petroleum in a less expensive manner. 

By the 1860s, there was a rapid growth in the number of petroleum companies and oil refineries. The main product of these pioneer oil refineries was kerosene. In the little town of Cleveland, fifteen such refineries were in business. In 1865, the young John D. Rockefeller bought one such refinery. This was the beginning of the Rockefeller family and the oil company known as Standard Oil. 

In 1873, Standard Oil became the biggest oil enterprise in the USA. In the 1880s, Standard Oil began to expand outside of the USA. In 1885, a major part of 

Marcel Dekker, Inc. 270 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 

This section is an overview of the evolntion of standards and codes for flame arresters from varions organizations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Enropean conntries. Brief snmmaries of the contents and reqnirements of varions standards and codes are presented in Chapter 8. 

Lactory Mntnal Research (formerly Lactory Mntnal Research Corporation) pnblished a test procedure for flame arresters for storage tank vent pipes in 1990 (LMRC 1990). The Lactory Mntnal Research test protocol 

The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) first published a specification for tank vent flame arresters, FI273, in 1991 (ASTM 1991). This was reaffirmed in 1996. This specification provides the minimum requirements for design, constrncdon, performance, and tesdng of tank vent flame arresters (deflagradon flame arresters). 

The Canadian Standards Association published a standard on test methods for in-line and firebox flame arresters in 1991. A revision was published in 1998 (CSA 1998). 

Cancer is a group of diseases that result from abnormal and prolific cellular division. Based on current U.S. National Cancer Institute s Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) of cancer prevalence, it is estimated that more than 10 million people were living with cancer in the United States in 2005 (NCI 2008). The American Cancer Society predicts that 1 in 2 males and 1 in 3 females will develop some type of cancer in their lifetime, and that 1 in 4 males and 1 in 5 females is at risk of dying from this disease (NCI 2007a,b). Cancer is undoubtedly a substantial threat to public health. 

Cancer Risk Assessment, edited by Ching-Hung Hsu and Todd Stedeford 

The approach to air pollution control in the US is very different to that in the UK. Rather than controlling lead via an effluent quality standard as in Britain, an ambient air quality standard is applied. The standard, set recently [11] applies to both industrial and vehicular sources of lead and is described in more detail in Section 5.5. Under this standard it is necessary for industrial sources to control emissions, and if necessary raise chimney heights to limit concentrations of lead in ambient air within the vicinity. 

Rank No. sites Binary combinations Rank No. sites Binary combinations  

Source Adapted from De Rosa CT, El-Masri HE, Rohl, H, Cibulas W, Mumtaz, MM. 2004. J. Toxicol. Environ. Health 7 339—350. 

Note Binary combinations at the 1188 sites surveyed. MeCl = methylene chloride, PCBs = polychlorinated biphenyls, Perc = perchloroethylene (tetrachloroethylene), 1,1,1-TCA = 1,1,1-trichloro-ethane, TCE = trichloroethylene, Trans-1,2-DCE = trans-l,2-dichloroethylene, 1,1-DCA = 1,1-dichloroethane, 1,1-DCE = 1,1-dichloroethene. 

Rank Compounds in mixture No. samples (out of 1497) with mixture 

Source Adapted from Squillace PJ, Scott JC, Moran MJ Nolan T, Koplin DW. 2002. Environ. Sci. Technol 36 1923-1930. 

Besides fossil fuels, a process for conversion of sewage sludge was also suggested. Lastly, chlorination and/or the addition of heavy metals were suggested as a means of containing microorganisms. 

In the USA there are fewer than 20 schemes, but these tend to be slightly larger than those in Canada. 

An example of a scheme in the USA is the Anadarko Brady Plant in Wyoming (Miller et al. 1999). The raw gas to this plant contains approximately 40% C02 and 1.5% H2S. The acid gas is removed in two stages. The first, which is an amine plant, removes all of the H2S and about 1/3 of the COz. The second, a Benfield plant, removes the remainder of the C02. It is the gas from the first sweetening process that is injected. The injection rate is about 9 MMCFD and the composition of the gas is 85% C02 and 14% H2S. 

A few American schemes also have been discussed in the literature. These include Dumas, Texas, USA (Whatley, 2000) Lisbon, Utah, USA, (Jones et al., 2004), and Artesia, New Mexico, USA, (Root et al., 2007). As the technology continues to prove itself, more and more producers in the USA are considering acid gas as an option for dealing with unwanted acid gas. 

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Address 5501 W. Baker Rd. Baytown, TX 77520 USA Phone +1 281 424 4505 E-mail nrossi advancedaromatics.com Web site www.advancedaromatics.com 

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Web site www.alumina.alcoa.com Parent Company Alcoa, Inc. (USA) 

FIGURE 3.17. World caustic demand [4]. The number next to the group of chemicals noted below the figure 

FIGURE 3.18. Demand, capacity, and operating rates for caustic soda in the world [6.  

FIOUEIE 3.19. Historical chlorine capacity and production profile in the US (plotted ftom the data in [2,7,9]). 

Ethylene oxide was conventionally prepared by reacting CI2, ethylene, and water to produce chlorohydrin, which is further treated with caustic to generate the oxide. This process was superseded by the direct oxidation of ethylene in the presence of silver catalysts with air or oxygen. The isobutane process displaced the route fiom propylene chlorohydrin to produce PO. Another significant loss was the conversion of DuPont s hexamethylene diamine process from butadiene to a non-chlorine-based technology. All these changes led to a loss of 140 000 tons of market demand for chlorine. 

The chlor-alkali producers, in spite of these environmental concerns, continued to project a growth of 4-6% per year because of the anticipated chlorine demand fiom exports, particularly the Far East. An additional capacity 15000 tons day was added between 1975 and 1980 to meet this anticipated demand. 

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In the United States For a complete list of books available from Penguin in the U.S., please write to Dept BA, Penguin, 299 Murray Hill Parkway, East Rutherford, New Jersey 07073... 

A clear, up-to-date and well-researched history of American foreign policy since 1938, Volume 8 of the Pelican History of the United States. 

According to the nature of the solvent employed, the yields and constitutions of the asphaltenes are different. In the United States, asphaltenes are obtained by precipitation from normal pentane. 

The V/L ratio is a volatility criterion seldom used in France but is used in Japan and in the United States where it has been standardized as ASTM D 2533. At a given temperature and pressure, the V/L ratio represents the volume of vapor formed per unit volume of liquid taken initially at 0°C. 

Measurement of octane numbers is carried out using a reference motor called CFR (Cooperative Fuel Research), referring to a series of studies conducted in 1928 in the United States in order to standardize the methods for characterizing motor fuels. 

In every part of the world, the same type of classification as above is found for fuels premium or regular, with or without lead. The octane numbers can be different from one country to another depending on the extent of development of their car populations and the capabilities of their local refining industries. The elimination of lead is becoming the rule wherever there are large automobile populations and severe anti-pollution requirements. Thus the United States, Japan and Canada no longer distribute leaded fuels. (... 

In the United States, the different categories of motor fuels are not defined as they are in Europe by minimum RON and MON values, but by a combination... 

The European specifications require a minimum cetane number of 49 for the temperate climatic zones and the French automotive manufacturers require at least 50 in their own specifications. The products distributed in France and Europe are usually in the 48-55 range. Nevertheless, in most Scandinavian countries, the cetane number is lower and can attain 45-46. This situation is taken into account in the specifications for the arctic zone (Table 5.14). In the United States and Canada, the cetane numbers for diesel fuels are most often less than 50. 

The most widely used product is TRO (TR for turbo-reactor) or JP8 (JP for Jet Propulsion), still designated by the NATO symbols F34 and F35. In the United States, the corresponding fuel is called Jet Al. The military sometimes still uses a more volatile jet fuel called TR4, JP4, Jet B, F45 or F40. The preceding terms correspond to slight variations and it would be superfluous to describe them here. 

Utilization of LPG as motor fuel represents only a tiny fraction of the market, on the order of 30,000 t/an in France out of a total 3,000,000 t that is, about 1%. Globally, the fraction of LPG used in the transportation industry is on the order of 5% the other applications are essentially petrochemicals (25%) and the heating fuel sectors (70%). However noticeable openings in the LPG-fuel markets in some countries such as Japan (1.8 Mt), the United States (1.3 Mt), the Netherlands (0.9 Mt), Italy (0.8 Mt) and in certain regions (Latin America, Africa, and the Far East) have been observed for specialized vehicles such as taxis. 

The idea of clean motor and heating fuels, that is, those having an improved impact on the environment, has been developing since the beginning of the 1980s, first in the United States. It has since then appeared in Europe and will most certainly have its impact in the rest of the world beyond the year 2000. 

However, such a level can still be considered too high for vehicles having 3-way catalytic converters. In fact, results observed in the United States (Benson et al., 1991) and given in Figure 5.20 show that exhaust pollutant emissions, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides, increase from 10 to 15% when the sulfur level passes from 50 ppm to about 450 ppm. This is explained by an inhibiting action of sulfur on the catalyst though... 

The classification of motor oils has not been completed in the ISO standard because the technical differences between motors in different parts of the world, particularly Europe and the United States, make the implementation of a single system of classification and specifications very difficult. In practice, different systems coming from national or international organizations are used. The best known is the SAE viscosity classification from the Society of Automotive Engineers, developed in the United States. 

The term bitumen is used in France to designate petroleum products, as in Great Britain and Germany. In the United States on the other hand, the equivalent material is designated by the expression asphalt-cement . In France, asphalt is a mastic, a mixture of bitumen and powdered minerals, poured in place. This mixture can be either natural or reconstituted by an industriai process. Asphait (French meaning) is utilized on roads, particularly in urban centers as well as for sidewalk surfacing. 

There are few coking units in the world, and the majority of them is found in the United States, such that coke production is marginal. Different coking processes have been described, but only two have survived (see Chapter 10) ... 

Standards Institution) in Germany, DIN (Deutsches Institut fur Normung), in the United States, ANSI (American National Standards Institute). 

At this point in time, the total sulfur content of crudes was not taken into consideration, since most of them were produced and refined in the United-States and contained less than 1%, and only the gasoline coming from corrosive crudes needed sweetening (elimination of thiols) for them to meet the specifications then in force. Today all crudes containing more than one per cent sulfur are said to be corrosive . 

One of the techniques capable of being used "on stream" is the novel INCOTEST technique, see figure 2, which measures wall thickness of piping and vessels through an insulation layer with a maximum thickness of 10 centimetres. This system is based on pulsed eddy currents, was first developed in the United States, and is now being commercialised and extensively validated for a number of applications. 

Through the use of lab tests implemented by the pulp and paper companies in the United States and Canada it was determined that all but one manual technique were both unrepeatable and inaccurate. During some years ago the operators of black liquor recovery boilers have been able to take advantage of the latest teehnology to inspect the wall thickness of the near drum generator tubes. The technology utilises immersion ultrasound and automated computer... 

The other type of x-ray source is an electron syncluotron, which produces an extremely intense, highly polarized and, in the direction perpendicular to the plane of polarization, highly collimated beam. The energy spectrum is continuous up to a maximum that depends on the energy of the accelerated electrons, so that x-rays for diffraction experiments must either be reflected from a monochromator crystal or used in the Laue mode. Whereas diffraction instruments using vacuum tubes as the source are available in many institutions worldwide, there are syncluotron x-ray facilities only in a few major research institutions. There are syncluotron facilities in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Genuany and Japan. 

As with synchrotron x-rays, neutron diffraction facilities are available at only a few major research institutions. There are research reactors with diffraction facilities in many countries, but the major ones are in North America, Europe and Australia. The are fewer spallation sources, but there are major ones in the United States and the United Kingdom. 

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The most important source of helium is the natural gas from certain petroleum wells in the United States and Canada. This gas may contain as much as 8 % of helium. Because helium has a lower boiling point Table 12.1) than any other gas, it is readily obtained by cooling natural gas to a temperature at which all the other gases are liquid (77 K) almost pure helium can then be pumped off. The yearly production in this way may be many millions of m of gas. but something like 10 m per year is still wasted. 

The fusion of hydrogen into helium provides the energy of the hydrogen bomb. The helium content of the atmosphere is about 1 part in 200,000. While it is present in various radioactive minerals as a decay product, the bulk of the Free World s supply is obtained from wells in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. The only known helium extraction plants, outside the United States, in 1984 were in Eastern Europe (Poland), the USSR, and a few in India. 

Some molybdenum contain from 0.002% to 0.2% rhenium. More than 150,000 troy ounces of rhenium are now being produced yearly in the United States. The total estimated Free World reserve of rhenium metal is 3500 tons. Rhenium metal is prepared by reducing ammonium perrhentate with hydrogen at elevated temperatures. 

In 1957 workers in the United States, Britain, and Sweden announced the discovery of an isotope of element 102 with a 10-minute half-life at 8.5 MeV, as a result of bombarding 244Gm with 13G nuclei. On the basis of this experiment, the name nobelium was assigned and accepted by the Gommission on Atomic Weights of the International Union of Pure and Applied Ghemistry. 

Large deposits of monazite (found on the beaches of Travancore, India and in river sands in Brazil), ahanite (in the western United States), and bastnasite (in Southern California) will supply cerium, thorium, and the other rare-earth metals for many years to come. 

The United States Department of Energy purchases uranium in the form of acceptable U3O8 concentrates. This incentive program has greatly increased the known uranium reserves. 

Frank Whitmore in the United States in the 1930s in a series of papers, generalized these concepts to include many other organic reactions. Carbocations, however, were generally considered to be unstable... 

In the United States, the first commercial petroleum deposit was discovered in 1859 near Titusville in western Pennsylvania when Edwin Drake and Bill Smith struck oil in their first shallow (—20 m) well. The well yielded some 400 gallons of oil per day (about 10 barrels). 

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